Mediarun Search Marketing News

Blogging 'is an effective marketing asset'

March 19th 2010

Social Media Optimisation News

While blogging is a great way for marketers to broaden their scope, a strong keyword strategy is essential for successful website optimisation, an expert has said.

Robin Collyer, regional director for UK & International at Aprimo, states that many marketers rate blogging poorly for its return on investment (ROI) because they are unsure how to use the platform to its full potential.

Writing for Marketing Week, Mr Collyer refers to a recent survey by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) which revealed that roughly 50 per cent of companies are now using blogs.

However, the study also showed that only 12 per cent of the companies using blogs placed it in their "top three" for marketing effectiveness among new media platforms.

A recent survey of the Fortune 500 companies found that 35 per cent had active Twitter accounts last year, meaning that they posted at least once every 30 days.

By contrast, only 22 per cent of all Fortune 500 companies had "public-facing corporate blogs," Adweek reports.

Mr Collyer explains that, from a business point of view, the way to get the most value out of blogging is by "regularly posting valuable and insightful information".

By doing so, brands can build credibility and establish themselves as an expert in their subject area, he explains.

But the easiest way to boost a brand's website optimisation, Mr Collyer states, is optimise a blog using keywords.

"Search engines look for content, and blogs provide relevant and recent content," he says.

"Combining this with a strong keyword strategy makes blogging another great way to drive traffic to your brand and products."

In addition, he claims that an even more effective way to drive traffic to a brand's site is to use strategic keywords and links to specific sales pages within blogs along with website optimisation.

"Blogging can support a lot more keywords than your website, Mr Collyer explains.

"So, you can expand your reach in organic search to a larger collection of keywords that are relevant."